Former cricketer Anjum Chopra was baffled by Team India's tactics in their Women's Asia Cup encounter against Pakistan. The Women in Blue couldn't chase 138 and lost the game by 13 runs, despite having a deep batting line-up.
Chopra feels the loss was perhaps a result of too much experimentation and lack of clarity in their thought process. The table-toppers were expected to be favorites, having lost just twice to Pakistan in this format before.
However, the team that had lost to Thailand a day earlier, turned up and beat the favorites quite comfortably in the end. In a video on her YouTube channel, here's what Anjum Chopra had to say about the Women in Blue's performance:
"I didn't understand whether India was looking to win the game against Pakistan or provide them with opportunities. I was confused about whether this was the same team that won silver in the Commonwealth Games and did well against England. Their tactics were baffling."
Anjum Chopra questioned India captain Harmanpreet Kaur's batting position
Anjum Chopra was also shocked to see captain Harmanpreet Kaur walk out to bat at No.7. She couldn't understand why the likes of Pooja Vastrakar and others were promoted ahead of the captain and the explosive Richa Ghosh.
On this, she stated:
"India kept on losing wickets and I didn’t understand what they were upto. Harmanpreet Kaur came to bat at No.7. Why? I have no idea. If your top order is so bad that you had to promote Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma and Dayalan Hemalatha, then why are they playing?"
Harmanpreet and co. will probably learn a thing or two from their loss against Pakistan in their bid to get the team ready for the T20 World Cup in the next few months.
At the time of writing, the Women in Blue have a good chance of beating Bangladesh and securing their place in the semifinals.
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